A Discussion of American Propaganda & the Mass Media from the Spanish American War to the Present

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Wartime by paul Fussel "type casting"

This war was filled with so much hate. There was so much more hate towards the enemy compared to the previous war. The propaganda was filled with more hate as well shown toward the japs. I beleve not only because of pearl harbor do we dispise them, which we read on pg 116, but also during WW1 the propaganda was geared to make people be pro war, because enicially nobody was. They refer to them as animals "they must be animals to behave thus, and cruel ones at that". "Bestial apes". "we ae drowning them and burning them all over the pacific", they also make reference to the Germans being human like , when they cted like animals just as much. This became a racial war against eachother. the japanese were also called "monkey men', and "sub humans". So it seemed bcause they were of a diferent race this war was esculated and they were concidered cretures and animals, never humans. but the government wanted them to be precieved this way so what ever we do its justified. there were many rumors even spread of americans getting the hands cut off and tortured. The media spread alot of propoganda about the japanese so america as a whole shared hate toward them.

1 Comments:

It is key to recognize the importance of racial typecasting in wartime. During WWII and today, ideas about race and nationality are key to the public debate about the war. Understanding why the Japanese were treated differently than the Germans in American propaganda and mass culture is an important lesson of WWII